“And our friends are all aboard. Many more of them live next door. And the band begins to play. We all live in a yellow submarine” – The Beatles (1966)
I have some really exciting news! I am so proud to share that few months ago I was chosen to became an official LEGOLAND Blogger Ambassador!!
And this past week I attended my first event at the LEGOLAND California Resort! I was invited to witness the grand opening and be one of the first to ride the new LEGO CITY: Deep Sea Adventure ride that officially opened to the public on July 2, just in time for all of the families visiting over the summer!
The grand opening ceremony was very fun with a skit presentation, a ribbon cutting, and even a celebratory pop with LEGO built champagne bottles that released confetti!
And LEGOLAND even donated $80,000 to the Ronald McDonald House charities!! I used to volunteer for this charity so I couldn’t have been more thrilled to be there to witness this generous initiative!
As a mom of two young children and as a registered play therapist, I love that this ride is a hands-on experiential learning experience the whole family can play and enjoy together!
The outside of the ride is very impressive. It takes living on a yellow submarine to a whole new level!
Once you are in line, which is mostly shaded with umbrellas, your children can play with LEGOS while you wait in line! It helps the time go by quicker and let’s them play and be be creative!
Once you get to the front of the line, you are taken inside the yellow doors with a small group of people to listen to a LEGO model instructing you about the ride before you are taken into a different room where you will embark on one of 8 yellow submarines!
The 4 minute voyage is very family friendly and goes at a slow speed, so its even great for small children. I took my one-year-old on the ride and he loved it! The real submarines can hold 12 passengers and there is plenty of room inside without feeling crowded or claustrophobic. The giant windows of the submarine are positioned at an angle so you sit comfortably and look down at the sea life with room to spare. There are no height restrictions, but you must be 52″ to ride alone.
During your voyage, you will explore the ocean and see over 2000 real sea animal life including sharks, stingrays, and tropical fish! LEGOLAND also takes the environment into consideration as the ride is very eco-friendly. For example, there are special LED lights placed underwater throughout the ride and use low energy. There is also a filtration system built with water conservation in mind, as they designed water recovery systems to repurpose any waste water.
More specifically, you will see Blacktip Reef Sharks, Southern Stingrays, Cownose Stingrays, Blue-lined Seaperch, Bigscale Soldierfish, and Foxface Rabbitfish! LEGOLAND uses real ocean sea water to irrigate the tank and maintain a natural habitat for the animals, which are carefully and thoughtfully taken care of by SEA LIFE aquarists.
You will also see 25 different LEGO models under the water throughout the voyage! I think it is so cool that scuba divers take care of the maintenance of these models, which are coated with a special UV coating that restricts algae from growing on them.
One of the models is a Shark Whirlpool, which stands more than 5 feet tall and made out of more than 80,000 LEGO bricks! There is also a Treasure Chest with a crab that is made of more than 35,000 LEGO bricks, which took a master model builder team more than 127 hours to build!
You will also use interactive touch screens to complete a treasure hunt and find items like gems, pearls, crowns, swords, art, and treasure!
These items are big enough for children to easily see and then touch the coinciding screen icon inside the submarine to earn points. When you get a new point, the screen icon will light up in green and make a noise so you know you can move on to find the next item! Throughout the adventure, you can increase your explorer level with each treasure found. There are 3 levels you can achieve: Junior, Senior, and Master, depending on the quantity of treasure found by the end of the ride.
My favorite part is that there is treasure on both sides of the submarine so it doesn’t matter where you sit on the ride, you have equal chances to find all the items to advance to the next level! There are even enough touch screens for adults to participate, too!
When the ride is over, you are taken into a gift shop that has a giant interactive game screen and moving fish! It is so fun for the children to play for a few minutes after the ride.
You are also shown a professional photo of you that you can buy as a keepsake!
And there is a giant wall of colorful LEGOS that you can buy the pieces for to put together a sea life themed LEGO model!
And I was able to share this once in a lifetime experience with my fellow LEGOLAND Blogger Ambassador friends! #DeepSeaAdventure
If you would like to see videos of the grand opening, please visit my Instagram highlights to watch them all how they happened!
And stay tuned more more LEGOLAND fun!!!
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